October 2022

Certolizumab Pegol Efficacy in Patients with Non-Radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis Stratified by Baseline MRI and C-Reactive Protein Status: An Analysis From the C-axSp And Study

ACR Open Rheumatol. 2022 doi: 10.1002/acr2.11469

The results of this analysis indicated that certolizumab pegol (CZP) treatment benefits patients with nr-axSpA across all the MRI/CRP subgroups studied. To reach this conclusion, this study evaluated clinical responses to CZP in patients with nr-axSpA stratified by baseline MRI/CRP status.

Recapture and Retreatment Rates with Ixekizumab After Withdrawal of Therapy in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis: Results at Week 104 From a Randomised Placebo-controlled Withdrawal Study

Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-222731

The present analysis demonstrated that patients continuously treated with IXE were less likely to experience flare compared with patients receiving placebo. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recapture of response with open-label IXE retreatment at week 104 in patients with axSpA who flared after withdrawal of IXE therapy.

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Venous Thromboembolism with JAK Inhibitors and Other Immune-Modulatory Drugs: a Swedish Comparative Safety Study Among Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis. 2022. doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-223050

Nationwide register-based study in Sweden finds that patients with RA treated with JAKinibs in routine clinical practice are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), compared with those treated with bDMARDs, an increase numerically confined to pulmonary embolism.

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September 2022

Efficacy and Safety of Ixekizumab Treatment in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis: 2-year Results from COAST

RMD Open. 2022 doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2021-002165

This study highlighted improvements in disease activity, function and quality of life were achieved early on into treatment and were sustained through 116 weeks of IXE therapy for patients with r-axSpA and nr-axSpA. In this study investigators aimed to report the long-term efficacy and safety results for patients treated with ixekizumab for up to 116 weeks.

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The Effect of Guselkumab on General Health State in Biologic-Naïve Patients with Active Psoriatic Arthritis Through Week 52 of the Phase 3, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled DISCOVER-2 Trial

Adv Ther. 2022 Oct;39(10):4632-4644 doi: 10.1007/s12325-022-02269-0

In the latest study by Curtis, et al. guselkumab treatment regimens improved general HRQoL as measured by the EQ-5D-5L Index and EQ-VAS. In reaching this conclusion investigators aimed to determine the minimal important difference for both instruments and to understand the associations between patient-reported EQ-5D-5L Index and EQ-VAS scores as well as key PsA clinical features.

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Secukinumab in Enthesitis-related Arthritis and Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis: A Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Treatment Withdrawal, Phase 3 Trial

Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 2022 2022-222849

In the latest study by Brunner, et al. secukinumab demonstrated efficacy and safety in the JIA categories of ERA and JPsA. This phase 3 study aimed to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in patients with active ERA and JPsA.

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Upadacitinib as Monotherapy and in Combination With Non-biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs for Psoriatic Arthritis

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2022 doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab905

In this investigation, upadacitinib showed comparable efficacy as monotherapy and in combination with nbDMARDs in PsA. In coming to this conclusion investigators aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of upadacitinib as monotherapy or in combination with nbDMARDs in patients with PsA.

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Olokizumab versus Placebo or Adalimumab in Rheumatoid Arthritis

N Engl J Med. 2022;387(8):715–726. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2201302

Phase 3 trial of olokizumab, a direct inhibitor of the IL-6 ligand, demonstrates superiority to placebo with respect to an ACR20 response at week 12 and noninferiority to adalimumab (all combined with methotrexate), in patients with RA.

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Impact of initial therapy with upadacitinib or adalimumab on achievement of 48-week treatment goals in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: post hoc analysis of SELECT-COMPARE

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022. Epub ahead of print doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac477

Post hoc analysis findings provide the first data evaluating the importance of treatment order with JAKinib vs TNFi as initial therapy, suggesting that a JAKinib first strategy leads to more rapid improvements in treatment outcomes following csDMARD failure.

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Infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving tofacitinib versus tumour necrosis factor inhibitors: results from the open-label, randomised controlled ORAL Surveillance trial

doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-222405

Post hoc analysis, using the final dataset from ORAL Surveillance, reveals a higher risk of non-serious infections and herpes zoster with tofacitinib vs TNFi, and higher risk of serious infection events with tofacitinib 10 mg BID versus TNFi, particularly in patients aged ≥65 years.

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